NYC Dems Vote Tuesday - Support Liu & De Blasio

Tomorrow, New York City Democrats should go to the polls to vote in two contested elections: Comptroller & Public Advocate.

In the race for Comptroller, I’m voting for Councilman John Liu. He's progressive and damn smart. He majored in Mathematical Physics and spent years working in finance at PriceWaterhouseCoopers. He knows how to handle the city's money. Liu has been a real leader in the City Council, constantly standing up for what's right regardless of political consequences. He has also lived the classic New York immigrant experience and if elected would be the first Asian American to hold a citywide office.

Check out his short YouTube documentary on John.

In the race for Public Advocate, the clear choice is Bill de Blasio. Bill has run a strong, impressive campaign. Taking down the former front-runner Mark Green, who ran a campaign based exclusively on name recognition. He didn't bother to show up to debate, after debate. Green's campaign is largely funded by real estate and his interest in Public Advocate stems from his never-ending desire to be elected Mayor. Bill is forward looking and seeks to take the office in a new direction. I'm happy to support him in this race.

Check out Bill's runoff ad here to see the wide range of endorsements he's received.

Find your polling location here.

Both Liu & De Blasio have also been endorsed by Brooklyn's Lambda Independent Democrats, where I currently sit on the Executive Board.

Brooklyn L.I.D. Endorsements

Monday night Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn, the largest gay political group in the borough, held an endorsement meeting for the upcoming NYC primaries. I'm new to the group's Board and wasn't sure what to expect-- but was pleasantly surprised. They had a great turnout and all the major candidates showed up.

Endorsements included: Bill Thompson for Mayor, Bill De Blasio for Public Advocate, Charles Hynes for District Attorney, Marty Markowitz for Borough President, and Diana Reyna for City Council District 34.

In the race for Comptroller, John Liu and David Yassky tied. There will be a runoff vote between those two on June 4th. Other races that will be considered on June 4th include: City Council Districts 33, 35, 38, 39, 46, and Civil Court judgeships.

I voted "No Endorsement" for NYC Mayor, because I'm unimpressed with the Democratic Candidates. I also support Norman Siegel over Bill De Blasio for Public Advocate.

Other thoughts:

• David Yassky is a generally impressive guy who couldn't give an answer that made any sense what-so-ever on his support repealing term limits. John Liu is my choice.
  
  
• I got the biggest laugh of the night for asking Mark Green how long it would take for him to begin his mayoral campaign after the Public Advocates race.
  
  
• The group voted to endorse Diana Reyna, City Councilmember in Bushwick, even though she doesn't support gay marriage because she's Catholic. How that's relevant to city business remains unclear.

Primary elections in New York City are on September 15th. For more information or to register to vote, visit the NYC Board of Elections.

Huffington Post: Gay Marriage In New York Unlikely in '09 or '10

Daniel Squadron, the twenty-nine year old freshman New York State Senator, is ready to take the lead on gay marriage in New York. Squadron said his goal was, "making this a law as quickly as possible," last night at a meeting of the Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn. He came to discuss strategy with leading activists and received plenty of feedback.

However, Squadron is not optimistic about passing gay marriage in the 2009 Senate session and believes that 2010 will be even tougher, due to the election year. "Looking at the members, it's hard to get to thirty-two votes," he admitted. Thirty-two is the magic number to pass a bill in the New York State Senate.

Squadron is not opposed to attempting in 2009, but said their were basically two strategies. Either, put the bill up in 2009 and risk a defeat or lay the ground work for passage later. "Just making the Senate Democratic is not enough, we need a fundamental change in Senate culture," Squadron explained. He believes that while the Senate is progressing, we aren't there yet.

Laying the ground work for victory, Squadron believes, involves showing marriage opponents "the ways it (gay marriage) leads to a traditional family structure." As well as explaining to members of the Senate the economic benefits Squadron added that, "real resources" need to be spent on changing people's minds in key districts and in the Senate.

Earlier this year I met with New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver at his Manhattan office. He assured us that he'd have the votes to pass marriage again. The Assembly passed marriage in 2007, largely due to member Daniel O'Donnell, an Upper West Side Democrat. O'Donnell, a gay man, personally plead his case to members of the Assembly.

Squadron revealed that the heads of many New York gay political groups are urging caution. One even suggesting that an attempt in 2009 would "kill us."

I believe that ultimately, it's not worth risking defeat in 2009. A major defeat in the Senate would set us back five years or more. We could have those votes as early as 2011 or '12, the way the public support continues to move toward marriage. If we keep winning the hearts and minds.

Outside of LGBT issues, Squadron truly impressed me tonight with his knowledge and support of progressive taxation and affordable housing. He spoke out directly against the change in the term limits law, calling it "obviously undemocratic." I supported his opponent in the primary, but it looks like we may have a rising star on our hands.

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Ryan J. Davis is on the Board of Directors of the Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn. All views reflected are his own. This was originally written for The Huffington Post.